Tag: io9

Mad Scientists Used To Be More Fun

I recommend that you read Annalee Newitz’s “The Rise of the Evolutionary Psychology Douchebag” to improve your own intellectual relative fitness.

Any discussion of Evolutionary Psychology needs to start with a disclaimer. The term “Evolutionary Psychology” is a brand name, or jargon, denoting a particular approach to a particular set of questions. It does not describe the entire field of research into the evolution of human intelligence, personality, psychology, and mental health. Continue reading “Mad Scientists Used To Be More Fun”

O(K Go)ptical Illusion


OK Go are known, in addition to their music, for their quirky videos, particularly a no-edit style that reduces “production values” (and costs) while making the whole thing that much more impressive. They’ve done a Rube Goldberg machine and a sound generating car-obstacle course combo. Now they have an entire video based on optical illusions.

One of my favorite things about optical illusions is not that they show that our brain can be tricked (which it can). It is that optical illusions are entertaining proof that the reality we perceive is a processed version of actual reality. Optical illusions represent a hack of that system.

Hat tip to Lauren Davis at io9.

%d bloggers like this: